The Knight Air
by EntrancedCat
Summary: A short pre-Saint Valentine's Day story. Andrea discovers it may not be so bad to work at a crap job in a massive mega-mart.


**The Knight Air**

Jennifer 'Burnout Girl' Burns paused dramatically with her hand about to turn over and place the last card. She smirked at her friend, Andrea Engebretson.

"How much you wanna bet on what this last card is, Andy?"

"Jen, you know I don't really believe in luck or whatever. It could be any card."

"No, no," her friend insisted. "You know and I know it's gonna be the…"

Andrea fingered her ankh necklace as Burnout Girl placed the card face up in the middle of eight other large cards forming a square on the table.

"Knight of Swords," Jen concluded. "Told you so. And well, look at that, for the first time in about eight readings, it's right side up."

Andrea scowled at the blade-waving Knight on his charging horse.

"You had it up your sleeve, Jen. Quit yanking my chain."

What were the odds, she wondered, in eight daily readings from a deck of seventy-eight that the last card was always the Knight of Swords? Must be very short chances, Andrea concluded; she would do the math later.

Her friends had long told her that she should have shown her smarts more often in Lawndale High. She wasn't an obvious brain like Daria Morgendorffer or Jodie Landon but she was no slouch; it might take her a shade longer than Daria or Jodie but she would come up with the right answer to just about anything in school.

Andrea had surprised the other less acknowledged brain, Charles Ruttheimer III, as much with her wit, wisdom and book smarts as her willingness to make out with him after Jodie's grad party. What had surprised Andrea was her willingness to make out with Upchuck and that he was a gentle, considerate lover once their initial nerves were overcome.

Andrea smiled to herself largely tuning out Jen's interpretation. After a couple years watching and envying Jen and Shaggy sucking face she had a make out buddy, at least for the summer, someone to massage her feet after a long shift at PayDay Mart.

She and Charles were headed in different directions, he to freshman year at a good school on the West Coast, she to community college for a couple years and hopefully to figuring out what to do with her life. They had fun and learned a lot but they knew it was probably nothing with permanence.

"Earth to Andy, Earth to Andy. Come in Andy." Jen bopped her on the nose with a card. She caught a whiff of Jen's usual brand of menthol cigs.

Jen waved the Knight of Swords as she told Andrea that this reading was favorable.

"You're gonna meet this guy pretty soon and it's gonna be good. You're Earth, babe, and your card, the Page of Pentacles, has come up a lot in these readings too."

Jen gestured to the right-side-up Page in the upper right corner. "Swords is air, sky and earth, between the two of you you'll have everything."

The Page of Pentacles was a waif like girl standing on a nondescript plain, holding and gazing at a yellow dinner plate with a five-pointed star scratched on it.

"Jen, she don't look anything like me; chick is way too skinny."

"But she got black hair too and you been taking off pounds, earth girl. Hmm, it's the Knight, not the King. He's a bit older than you but not a real old guy. Probably…sandy blonde hair. Fairly tall."

Jen let Andrea consider her words as she squared up her deck and put it in a green silk drawstring bag. Andrea had to admit that Jen was scarily good at fortunes but she put it down to them being friends forever and never keeping any real secrets from each other.

"Thanks Jen. Still don't know how much I can believe, you know, but I'll keep a lookout for Mr. Tall, Blonde and Airy."

"Soon, earth babe, soon. It's fate, destiny, kismet; it's in the cards."

"Crap, I gotta get ready for another shift at Mart of Darkness. Tomorrow, Burn. Bring Shaggy over. Mom and Dad's gone and I scored a bottle of some white stuff called chardonnay they forgot about in the basement. After Shaggy passes out we can paint his eyes with kohl. Oh, and, Burn, you promised me you were gonna stop smoking."

 **ANDREA ANDREA ANDREA ANDREA ANDREA**

Jane came awake fuzzily, roused by a noise downstairs. For many suburban residents in the wee hours this would be a cause for alarm but she was used to members of the family of Wandering Lanes considering the Lawndale house their base camp and showing up any time day or night.

Still, the noise merited investigation but not before she was properly armed. She silently rolled out of bed and readied her most effective, dangerous weapon, a new glue gun: the Stickinator 7500, portable, thermite-powered and ready in seconds.

Holding the gun up in a safety, ready position she padded down the hall to Trent's room. Her brother's snores nearly drowned out the fossicking noises coming from downstairs.

Jane shook Trent vigorously knowing that was the only way to awaken the musician any time day or night.

"Mummmff," Trent rolled off his stomach. "What? Janey?"

"Trent," she whispered. "There's someone downstairs."

As Trent heaved himself up on an elbow they heard a familiar, desperate sobbing from downstairs.

"Wind!" They both said. Trent at once slumped back and resumed snoring.

Before hopping back in her now cold bed, Jane powered down her glue gun and returned it to the safety rest in her room. Although of a sarcastic bent she was not callous, however, she ignored the sobbing from downstairs. Wind needed to cry himself out and there was little anyone could do to help the process along.

Jane awoke to a soft buzz of conversation from downstairs and the customary loud snore from Trent's room. With coffee more on the mind than Wind or any other visitor, she got dressed and made her way downstairs.

Involuntarily her eyes widened at the sight of a vestless Jesse Moreno sitting facing Wind Lane. She had long been over her ancient schoolgirl crush on her brother's best friend but no one could fault her for looking at Jesse's muscular build.

From the looks of things Wind had fallen asleep on the couch in his rumpled soft puce pullover and chinos. He was now sitting up and sewing on Jesse's vest. They looked up from this domestic scene to greet Jane.

"Wind, did Claudia or Katey kick you out again?" Jane asked bluntly. She could never remember which wife Wind was on visit to visit. To anyone else this would have been a rude question; the Lanes were used to being brutally direct with Wind, the quickest way to get him over the latest emotional, relational crisis and out of the house.

Jane was fully ready for Wind to break into racking sobs and tears and self-recriminations so it came as a shock when tears began to fall from Wind's eyes in complete silence.

Jane looked on in shock and growing discomfort; Jesse regarded the person mending his vest with sympathy.

"Wind, I'm, uh, I'm sorry," Jane began.

"It's okay, Jane. It's okay and it's all over. I can face it and bring it to an end. Helen Morgendorffer handled my divorce, er, divorces, er, we'll figure it all out. I'm not married to anyone anymore and I ended up with the houseboat. I'm in town to help Morgendorffer Consulting maximize their web presence now."

And just like that the waterworks turned off with a couple sniffles and a rub of his nose on his rumpled puce shirt.

"Scented candles, man," Jesse interjected. They both turned to him as he brought a couple large pillars from his backpack and the air was infused with thick boysenberry. Jane's eyes began to tear up and not from sympathy with Wind.

Wind rubbed his eyes as Jesse continued, "A nice hot bath with scented candles burning, man, it'll pick your mood right up. Hmm, I'm about due for another bath too."

He fossicked. "Dang, I only got two. Need to go to PayDay and pick up that dozen-a-dollar each pack."

"Scented candles?" Wind waved his hand in front of his nose and Jane opened a window. "You know, that'd be a great addition to my stock at _Leaves of Loss._ Yeah, soothe your broken relationship with the scent of boysenberry."

He took a deep sniff. "Or for me maybe something breezier and lighter. Yeah, do they make 'em in citrus, maybe musk and sandalwood for an earthier scent?"

"Don't know, man. I like boysenberry. Suppose we could truck down to the mall and check it out."

"Can I come with?" Jane asked. "I need gummi-bears for that stained glass effect."

A few minutes later Wind had mended the vest to wearability and changed into a crisp sky-blue shirt and fresh chinos. Jane had given up on awakening Trent. The three piled into Wind's Geo Metro and headed for Lawndale's outskirts and the sprawling PayDay Mart.

 **WIND WIND WIND WIND WIND**

Andrea put her finishing touches on the display of one-gallon jugs of brined gherkins and deemed it eye-catching enough to move merchandise.

" _There, done. Looking as good as a stack of glass jugs of green cukes ever could without a severed finger or two floating in the vinegar. Mom and Dad were right, work can be satisfying."_

Or so she tried to tell herself. It was a crap job at small wages but her bank account was growing and she certainly enjoyed some macabre sights on free sample day. Before Jen left for a vo-tech down south she was going to buy her best buddy a new, leather jacket with an even neater skull on it.

Andrea's nose crinkled as a cloying scent of some fruit wafted her way. Boysenberry? Did they change the free-sample day and add some new flavor of sugar tart?

"Miss, miss." She turned as a slow voice called. Somehow a guy wearing a vest with bare chest had gotten past the greeter. Walking with him was a taller guy in a sky-blue shirt.

"Where are the scented candles?" Vest-man spoke. "You guys always move things around and confuse me."

"Scented candles? Aisle 197b, where the shoe laces used to be. Moved 'em myself last week. Here, follow me."

" _Why am I leading them? They're big boys; I think they can read. Well, blue shirt anyway."_

Andrea adjusted the boxy uniform apron as she felt the guys running their eyes over her curves as she led them on.

She and the tall guy coughed as they got to the scented merchandise. The exhaust blowers ran on high in this section.

"Yum, boysenberry and this is new!" Vest-guy pushed past her. "Cherry-pomegranate!"

Bricks of candles starting piling into his cart.

Andrea and the tall guy goggled at him a moment before the tall guy asked her, "Um, I think I like something a little lighter, earthier. Some citrus, maybe sandalwood and musk."

Something pulled at Andrea's memory but she was in helpful clerk mode at the moment. She turned to him and caught herself gazing up into his sky-blue eyes.

"Umm, yeah, we got all kinds of citrus. And sandalwood, musk are my faves but in soaps, candles are too heavy for me."

"Jesse! Wind! There you guys are. Let me dump my gummis into that cart."

Andrea turned to see Jane lugging a twenty-pound bag of gummi bears. Jane thumped the bag on top of Jesse's candles before she realized the clerk was Andrea and averted her eyes.

"We never saw each other." Jane told her covering her face dramatically.

"It's okay, Jane." Andrea had the first good giggle all day. "I'm a short timer at PayDay. Just a week and I'm gone from this crap job and town. I hear from Jodie that you're off for a good art school in Boston. Congrats."

Jane performed a modest bow. "Thanks. Andrea, I don't think you met my brother, Wind. The guy getting candle wax on his vest is Jesse. He's riding in the trunk."

"Wind? Your name is 'Wind'?"

"Yeah", he said meeting her gaze. "Wind Lane. Do you think 'Ronald' is better?"

"No," she said slowly suddenly getting closer to him. "I think Wind is an exciting, light, breezy name."

Wind looked down and found himself planted in her deep brown eyes. The girl in front of him had a presence. She had exciting eyes and she was Jane's age. Maybe that could be creepy but he wasn't so old. Someone like her could both ground him and make him ready for a new adventure.

"Uh," he began. "Hi Andrea, nice to meet you. I bet you could tell me some stories about Jane. Uhm, coffee after your shift? I bet you get pretty tired standing all day. Maybe coffee and sit in the park; I could massage your feet?"

"Coffee and a foot massage. Wow, a girl can't turn that down."

" _Hmm, I might have to thank Burn later."_ Andrea thought as she smiled up at Wind.

Jane gaped at the two edging closer to each other. " _All these years, maybe I was trying to set up the wrong brother and classmate."_

 **AN: I know fanon dictates Andrea's last name as 'Hecuba' or 'Thorne' but I always thought Lawndale needed more Norwegians. This was in response to the "Iron Chef Random Pairing Challenge of 2016" initiated by JoeMerl for Saint Valentine's Day.**


End file.
